There is a lack of good quality occupational data included in routinely collected health records in the UK.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) commissioned research on the feasibility for linking sources of available data on occupation with health data and the evaluation of the impact. This project has scoped the availability of relevant sources of information, particularly on databases containing occupational data, and identifies databases well suited to supporting HSE’s aims.
This project was informed through interviews with various experts, desk-based research, and pooling of expert knowledge from project team members.
Generally, health records do not contain accessible occupational data, except for mortality records, which contain a record of the individual’s last occupation. Several datasets exist that include occupational information (such as the Census Longitudinal Studies, the Labour Force Survey and the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. None of which are currently linked with any routinely collected health data. These data may provide opportunities for future data linkage.
The data sources identified, are comparatively underutilised for occupational health outcome research. There are two routes which appear to provide a potential pathway and HSE are to consider the prospects of linking the data sources together.
This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive. Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.
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